Ixalan

Brave the Unknown

Overview

Ixalan is a plane of Pirates, Merfolk, Dinosaurs and Vampires…oh my! The plane of Ixalan has a similar feel to Zendikar in the fact that both planes have a high focus on exploration and treasure.

Factions

The Sun Empire

The people of the Sun Empire have learned to use dinosaurs as weapons and companions in battle. This faction has a strong Mesoamerican theme. The main colors of this faction are white, red and green.

The Brazen Coalition

Ahoy mateys! The Brazen Coalition features a pirate theme. Bucanners, booty, and boats are in bountiful supply. The main colors for this faction are blue, black and red.

The River Heralds

Standard merfolk fare here. The River Heralds draw on the powers of blue and green mana.

The Legion of Dusk

Vampires also inhabit the plane of Ixalan and are represented by The Legion of Dusk faction. This faction doesn’t have any keyworded mechanics, but look for these vampires to manipulate life totals by draining your opponents to empty husks while transfering their sweet life esence to you. The Legion of Dusk are represnted by the colors white and black.

Mechanics and Features

Enrage

Enrage is the signature mechanic of The Sun Empire and is triggered whenever a creature is dealt damage. This ability will trigger even if the creature is dealt lethal damage.

Raid

Raid is the signature mechanic of The Brazen Coalition and is enabled whenever another creature you control has already attacked during your turn.

Vehicles

Vehicles are artifacts that can become creatures if they become crewed. In order to crew a vehicle you must tap a number of creatures that havae a total power specified by the vehicle rules text.

Treasure

Wherever there are pirates there is sure to be gold and Ixalan is no different in this regard. Treasure appears on Ixalan as artifact tokens that can be tapped and sacrificed to add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

Explore

Explore is a bit more of a complex mechanic. Whenever the explore mechanic triggers you reveal the top card of your library. If that card is a land, you put it in your hand. If the card is not a land you put a +1/+1 counter on the eploring creature and put the revealed card on either the top or bottom of your library.

Double-Faced Cards

Double-faced cards have unique functions on both sides of the card. The front side of the card will provide the requirements for causing the card to transform.

Conclusion

Ixalan is a plane of adventure, exploration and treasture and is the first set to be implemented in MTG Arena.